Run To Me
by amber-1134
Summary: A strange line of events brings certain Degrassi students together... closer than ever before.
1. Partners

A/N: A strange idea that came to me when I was thinking about reality shows O.o Don't ask, my mind is weird. Anyway, R/R please! Oh yes, and I don't know the history teacher's name... review and tell me if you know so I can fix it I just called him Mr. Smith :-P

Disclaimer: I don't own Degrassi: The Next Generation. Or the original Degrassi. I don't own much, in fact. I only have about forty dollars and a few pieces of candy from Mexico. Anyway, onto the story.

Summary: A strange line of events brings certain Degrassi students together... closer than ever before.

"Okay, class, now that we're done with our reports on World War II, I'm going to start a whole new project." With a load moan from the class, Mr. Smith continued, "I know, you can hardly wait to get started. The only good news about this project is that I will be pairing you together with partners. Each group will do a report on one of the USA's fifty states. I will give you your partners name, and your state now. Toby and Kendra, California. JT and Liberty, Illinois. Sean and Emma, Texas..."

Emma froze at Mr. Smith's lasts words.

"_Sean and Emma..."_

She, very unwillingly, glanced over her shoulder at a very miserable looking Sean. 'Why did Mr. Smith have to pair me with _him_?' Emma thought bitterly, looking back at the front of the classroom, trying to maintain control of her anger. 'He's a criminal. A stealing, lying, jerk. And I have to spend the next two weeks with him. This is going to be great. Just great.'

"Please get started, class. You have the rest of the period to start researching online, and you will have to do most of the rest of the work after school, or in your spare time. This grade counts as a test grade, you want to put the best effort you can into it."

Chairs slid across the floor as people started pairing off. Emma slowly stood up and walked over to the back of the room where Sean was sitting. "Um, hi," she said awkwardly.

Sean just raised his eyebrows and looked around, obviously trying for as long as he could to ignore her. Emma sighed and timidly sat down in the chair beside him. "Well, to get a good grade on this project we'll need to get along... which we clearly don't...so I think we should just forget our past. For the project anyway, because I'm not failing a test grade."

"Another F wouldn't exactly stand out on my report card," Sean replied rudely.

"It's not all about you," Emma shot back, her temper rising, "Could you ever actually consider someone else might be affected from one of _your_ choices?"

"Look. Whatever. I don't care about some dumb History project- if you don't want to fail it, work on it. Alone. Because I'm not going to hang out with you any more than I absolutely have to."

"Sean-"

"Look, Emma, don't."

She sighed, swallowing her anger. Silently counting to ten, she turned to him and sighed. "Well, do you know anything about Texas?"

"Um, it's like, a really big state."

Emma sighed again, louder this time. "I mean, about the economy? Or the leader, or anything?"

Sean looked at her with a face that clearly read 'Are you kidding me?'

"Okay, so, maybe we don't know a whole lot. But we can get some books from the library or something-"

"Look, okay, I don't want to be a part of any little gay study group you're having after school, Emma. I have plans. And I'll help you only when I have nothing else to do. Believe it or not, unlike some people, school is not my number one priority."

Emma again tried to push down her anger. "Okay, sorry, just thought maybe you would want to get a good grade on this."

Sean was silent, staring yet again around the room. The bell rang, and Sean bolted out of the room. Emma groaned and stood up also, following him out of the room. He was going to be a part of their project whether he liked it or not.

-x-

Marco glanced down at the sheet in his hand, and then looked at the doors lining the hallway on the left.

"C'mon, where is it? Room 41...41..." Marco looked at the doors. No luck.

"Looking for the Yearbook staff meeting?" A voice behind Marco asked.

He turned and was met with shining blue eyes looking at him over a pearly white smile.

"Oh, yeah, uh, hey Dylan," Marco smiled nervously. "You wouldn't know where the classroom was, would you?"

"Yeah, I'm part of the staff."

Marco's heart skipped a beat and he followed Dylan down the hallway on the right. "I wouldn't expect you to know where it is, since it's a grade 12 classroom. But, here we are."

He had stopped at Room 41. Marco let out a nervous laugh and said timidly, "Um, thanks."

"Sure."

Dylan flashed one of those killer smiles at him again and followed him through the doorway. A few people were scattered around the classroom, talking quietly. Dylan motioned Marco over to a small group of people in the corner in the back.

"Hey- Tom, Mark, and Joel- this is Marco. He's a grade 10." (A/N: I forgot what grade he's in, correct me if I'm wrong.)

Nods of welcome greeted Marco from around the circle. Tom looked at Marco disapprovingly, turning his nose up. Dylan didn't seem to notice, though, and said, "Marco's new to the staff this year. Help me show him the ropes, okay guys?"

They nodded, except for Tom, who was still looking Marco up and down with unsure eyes.

Dylan turned over to the short Italian boy. "Mr. Thomas, the grade 12 Science teacher, is in charge of the yearbook committee. Don't worry, he's really nice and cool, I'm sure you'll like him."

'That smile,' Marco thought silently, 'Is going to be the death of me.'

-x-

A/N: I know, it was really short, I just want some feedback :-P I promise the next chapter will be longer if you review!


	2. Emotions

A/N: Thanks for the reviews. Here's chapter 2.

Disclaimer: I don't own D: TNG.

-x---

"Miss Santos, these grades are unacceptable. They're dropping, steadily, but they are. You'll need to do some extra credit if you don't want to fail my class. I know the Yearbook committee offers extra credit, along with the Math Club and the School Newspaper. I don't think you'll be able to manage my class without it. You might want to consider signing up for one of the clubs, or you might face yourself in summer school."

Manny Santos rolled her eyes. A 70 wasn't THAT bad. Oh yeah, that was her grade without her missing assignments. She sighed. "Okay, Mr. Simpson, I'll join one of these so-called clubs. Will that make you happy?"

Mr. Simpson kind of half-smiled at her, amused. "Yes. And I don't want to give you a final grade that isn't above a 75, so I suggest you work hard."

Manny turned and walked out of the classroom, heading for her locker. Eyes stared as she crossed the hall. _'What?'_ Manny thought, _'I'm not dressing in anything like I used to... and the whole talk about Ashley and Craig has died down a little bit... I wish they'd stop looking at me, I'm not a slut or anything.'_

Manny found that each day she became more and more depressed because of her actions in the past and the way people were treating her, like she was dirt or something. It caused her to loose a lot of self confidence. Manny turned the dial to her locker quickly, or she was going to be late to English. After successfully opening it, Manny grabbed her books and practically sprinted down the hall. On the way, she knocked into someone, her binder and books sliding across the floor.

"Oh, shit," She muttered softly, reaching for all the papers that had come loose. "Sorry," Manny said louder, looking up to see who she had run into. Ashley.

She stopped in the middle of helping Manny pick up her books and dropped it disgustedly. "Oh. It's you."

Manny tried to ignore the hate in Ashley's voice as she stacked all of her things back up again on top of her binder. She stood up, barely reaching Ashley's neck. "Look, Ash-"

"Save it," Ashley said loudly, cutting her off. "I don't want to hear anything from _you._" She spat out the last word like it was poison and stormed off down the hall.

Manny clutched her things to her chest, tears welling up in her eyes. She had had the worst day today, and the day before, that the littlest things now made her back down in hurt and fear rather than defend herself and get angry. She turned into the girl's washroom on the right instead of entering her classroom on the left. The bell had just rung anyway, if she was going to be late why not take advantage of it?

Manny dropped her things on the floor and locked herself in a stall, curling her legs to her chest on top of the toilet. Tears started streaming down her face, making her black mascara run with it.

'_Why me?'_ Manny thought, _'Why do I have to go through this? I'm sorry! I'm sorry, God! I never meant to hurt anyone, or do anything wrong. I want to take it all back, I really want to forget all that's happened. Why can't I just drop it? This pain hurts so much.'_

She sniffed as more tears spilled across her cheeks. The bathroom door opened, and Manny held her breath, trying to stay as quiet as possible. Footsteps echoed across the tile, stopping at her door. Manny closed her eyes, praying the person wasn't going to say anything to her.

"Manny?"

The voice brought thousands and thousands of memories back to Manny. She knew exactly who it was. No one could mistake that voice, not even Sean could at this point.

"I'm fine," Manny said stubbornly, not moving an inch. "Go away."

Emma sighed from the other side of the door. "Come out. Please. I want to talk to you."

Slowly, and unwillingly, Manny slid down off the seat and opened the door. She grabbed her stuff off the floor and pushed past Emma, throwing her things on the sink counter.

Eyeing Emma through the mirror in front of her, Manny says. "You said you wanted to talk. So, talk."

Emma sighed. There was a long silence, Manny staring down at the faucet in front of her, Emma looking at Manny's face through the mirror.

"What happened between us?" Emma asked, in a voice barely above a whisper.

Manny looked up. Emma was staring intently at her. "I don't know," she replied, in the same, barely audible voice. "I guess we both just saw our differences more than our similarities and split from there."

"Oh...yeah."

Another awkward silence followed as each girl looked nervously around the room.

"Are you okay?"

Manny looked up at the voice. Emma seemed to genuinely care about her well-being. Manny opened her mouth and was about to say she was fine, and that nothing could be better, even though that was a blatant lie. She didn't need Emma worrying about her, though, or even really caring.

Or did she?

"No," Manny said truthfully. Her voice had gone back to barely above a whisper. She cleared her throat and continued clearly. "I'm not okay. Since Christmas, I've been struggling with people calling me 'slut' and 'whore', and the break up with my boyfriend. My dead beat, crappy boyfriend. The one I stole from Ashley and never even ended up with. My life has been a living hell, worse than anyone else could ever imagine."

Emma bit her tongue. She had never heard Manny open up like this before.

"I hate myself. I really, really hate myself. I've never felt like this before, Emma. I'm scared... really scared. I hate what I've become, I hate how I act, I hate how I dress...I hate everything about me, yet I still continue to dress like a slut. And I'm so tired of myself... I can't figure out what's happening. I really want to change, I do, but the other part of me wants me to stay like this so I can have attention from guys. I don't get the comfort or love I need at home, so I depend on guys for that. I don't understand, Emma, I don't understand why I've done this to myself. So many people want to turn and blame God, or someone else's actions... but I know I've done this to myself. I have completely and totally destroyed myself."

Tears freely fell from Manny's cheeks. She turned, now looking Emma directly in the eye. "I don't want to live like this."

"Manny, I'm so, so, sorry. For anything I've said-"

Emma couldn't finish her sentence as Manny collapsed in a heap of tears onto Emma, hugging her tightly. She slowly returned the hug, placing her hands on Manny's back.

"Don't be sorry," Manny whispered in between sobs, "If anyone should be sorry, it's me."

Emma just let her cry, because right then, it seemed like what a true friend would do.

--xxx—

"Well, I guess that's all the time we have for today, but I'll see you guys tomorrow." Chairs slid across the tile and everyone started talking and making little huddles around the room. Marco's heart beat fast against his chest as Dylan came over to him from across the room.

"Hey," Dylan greeted, smiling. Marco melted.

"Oh, uh, hey," he said, almost positive his cheeks were bright red.

"Do you want a ride home? I don't need to be anywhere, and I know it's a pain walking," Dylan offered, pulling his car keys out of his pocket.

"Oh, yeah, sure," Marco said nervously, grinning.

The two walked in silence out of the room, but in the hall Dylan started a conversation. "So, how are you liking the yearbook team so far? I mean, I know it's only your second day, but what do you think so far?"

"It's... fun. I really enjoy doing stuff like yearbooks, because I think it's so much fun to put different pictures together and work mostly on the computer. It's so... high tech, and... fun."

Dylan smiled again. "Yeah, it's awesome. I was about to not sign up for the committee, but I figured, hey, it's my last year, I might as well make an impact on my last yearbook."

"Yeah." Marco laughed nervously.

They headed out the double doors, to Dylan's car. Marco got into the passenger's seat as Dylan climbed in the driver's.

Just as he was about to start the ignition, Dylan turned to Marco. "You know what? I'm really craving some sherbet. You wouldn't want to go out for ice cream with me... would you?"

"Oh! Uh, sure!" Marco said, probably a little too enthusiastic than he should have.

Dylan laughed. "Okay, great. Benny's Ice Cream Parlor it is."

--x---

A/N: Ack, I know, awful stopping point, but it IS longer... I think... hehe, so anyway, click that super purple button... come on, you know you want to... it's calling your name... Hehe, just review. I'll give out cupcakes. Kaitlin only gives out cookies, but with ME you get cupcakes. Super stuff! Haha, I'm only kidding Kaitlin, I love your cookie schemes XD They're super!!! :D REVIEW!


	3. Your Smile

A/N: Thanks for the reviews! I love you guys! :-P Keep reviewing!

About reviews/the story plot::::

I made that whole scene with Manny because I have a friend who's EXACTLY like that right now, and I just wanted to show that there's a lot more than what meets the eye, and she may seem evil and cruel but she has feelings too, just like everyone else :-P And my whole feeling about flames: If you feel like my story is the worst thing ever and you don't want to read another word, that's absolutely fine. I want you to be honest in your reviews, but don't just say 'you suck.' Tell me WHY so I can fix it! Thankies

Now, onto the story!

Disclaimer: I don't own D:TNG.

Sean eyed the watch on his wrist and looked around, anxious for Tracker to come pick him up from school. He dropped his bag on the ground and sat down on the stairs outside of Degrassi Community School. _'Life sucks,'_ Sean thought, as a grade 9 trotted down the stairs and headed off down the street. Sean was the only one around. _'I have to partner up with my ex girlfriend, Ellie has joined the Online Club, so she won't be around as often, and Jay is more pissed at me than usual. Great.'_

Sean heard the doors to the school behind him open and close. Footsteps moved across the sidewalk but stopped at the top of the stairs.

"Sean?"

_'Speaking of Emma, here she is. Does she try to ruin my life?'_

Sean didn't respond. He pretended he hadn't heard and pulled his Walkman out of the bag lying on the pavement. Turning the volume full blast, he place the headphones over his ears and continued to stare off blankly into space.

Emma walked down the stairs and stood in front of Sean. She pushed the headphones off of Sean's ears and calmly said, "Do you ever have any human decency? I mean, even just to say hi to someone who's passing by you. It wouldn't kill you, ya know."

She offered kind of a half smile, and Sean took it as she was supposed to be joking. He didn't find it funny.

"Whatever."

He put the blaring rock music over his ears again, only for them to be taken off again by Emma. She was a little bit angrier this time. "Could you turn that off and talk to me?"

Sean unwillingly pressed stop on his Walkman, not even knowing why he was doing this.

"Thank you."

She sat down next to him on the bricks. "I-"

"Why are you talking to me?" Sean interuppted, glancing over at her.

"I don't know. Maybe because I wanted to see how you were doing, or to tell you that I still am madly in love with you."

Grinning at the look on Sean's face, Emma continued, "Or maybe I'm just waiting for my mom to pick me up and talking to someone is a lot less boring than sitting alone in silence while hearing the Beastie Boys blare out of your CD player."

Sean shook his head and tried not to smile. He had forgotten how much Emma had brightened him when she was around. "That's not what I meant," he said, a smile creeping on his lips, "I meant, why are you talking to me? Why not someone else?"

"Because you're fun to talk to when you're not around Jay, easy to talk to when you're not around Ellie, and interesting to talk to when you're not listening to music. And I don't want our past to destroy us. I mean, we can still be friends. Right?"

Sean turned away from her at those words. The last thing he wanted anyone to know was that he was friends with Emma. "I don't know. Life's screwed, ya know? Why make it more complicated than it has to be?"

Emma slowly nodded. "Okay. As you wish."

She stood up and walked to the edge of the road, looking both ways to see if she saw any approaching cars. The road was dead.

"Why'd you leave?" Sean asked, staring at her back.

"Because," Emma said, still facing the opposite direction. "You don't want to be seen talking to me, so I'm just making it a lot easier for you."

"That's not true-"

"Yes it is," Emma said, her temper slowly rising. "You know good and well you care about what other people think of you."

"Whatever."

Emma clenched her fists and turned to him. "If you don't care what people think of you, why don't you ever say hi to me in front of your gang? Because it's not cool? Yeah. That's what I thought."

He was in silence, staring at her. He stood up. "I don't give a damn what people say, or think, about me. I could care less. What is your problem?"

"UGH!" Emma exclaimed loudly, anger boiling up inside her stomach. "That is NOT TRUE! Don't you dare stand there and lie to my face, Sean. You only care about one person: you. That's why being seen with the wrong people will destroy your image, and I'm sick of it!"

They were now only a foot away from each other. "I don't just care about myself!" Sean spat back. "Believe it or not, I'm not obsessed with the enviornment like you are! I have more concern for myself than dumb animals! Sorry!"

"You think the entire world revolves around you, Sean, and you know it. It's all about you. You only approve of yourself, you think you're perfect, you only CARE about yourself-"

"Emma!! That's not true! I care about you!"

Silence followed his words as Emma's eyes stayed locked on his. "Bull."

Emma turned on her heel and marched off, walking a short distance down the sidewalk. She was still in Sean's sight, but only because if she went much farther her mom wouldn't know where she was.

It wasn't that Emma didn't want to befriend Sean, or that she didn't still have a few romantic feelings swarming around inside for him, it was just his attitude that really made her angry sometimes. Part of her always had, and would, love him, but sometimes, Emma learned, you have to let your loved ones go. Sean and her were from different worlds, and if it took them not even making eye contact with each other to get along, so be it.

--x----x------

Ellie watched Sean, sitting alone outside the school, waiting to be picked up. Part of her felt bad for leaving him while joining the Online Club at school, but another part of her was excited to get to create and edit the school website. She could actually have an effect on what people view the school as. To Ellie, this was extremely exciting.

Shoving her boyfriend out of her brain, Ellie practically skipped down the hall to the Media Immersion classroom, where Mr. Simpson would be teaching them and helping them control the school site. She took a seat in the middle row, waiting for all the people to get there. Ellie pulled out a book she was supposed to read for English and picked up where she had left off.

A few minutes later, she sensed someone sitting next to her as the door closed and Mr. Simpson introduced himself for the ones who weren't in grades 9 and 10. Ellie glanced over at who had sat down.

Craig.

Ellie looked around the rest of the room to try and see if any other spaces were available, but it seemed this was a very popular place to be. Ellie swallowed her hate for the player sitting next to her and stared straight ahead, pretending she didn't notice he was there. But as Mr. Simpson droned on, Ellie could sense Craig glancing over at her every few seconds. Not staring, really, just... looking.

"Now, please work with the person sitting next to you, and the tables of three can just work together. Come up with a few ideas you think would make a good background for the homepage. We'll vote and the winning one will be scanned and displayed on all of the pages of the site. Keep in mind it has to be school appropriate. You guys can start."

Ellie looked disgustedly to her left. Empty chair. To her right: Craig.

"Out of all the places, did you really have to sit here?" she spat, glaring over at him.

"There was no where else. And I thought you might be mature enough to talk to me without getting like Ashley when she's near me. A complete brat."

"Gee, I wonder why she hates you. Any takers? Oh yeah, it's because you CHEATED on her."

It was like a constant war between them, back and forth. Ashley was Ellie's best friend, and Ellie wasn't about to let Craig forget what he did. Craig sat in silence. "Any background ideas?"

"Black. With a music reference," Ellie said plainly, studying her nails. For now, the subject of Craig's past would be dropped. For now.

Craig nodded. "Sounds cool. What should we use for the music? Were you thinking of a guitar across the page? Or multiple ones scattered?"

It was like he read her mind. She WAS thinking of using guitars. "I dunno, a few guitars here and there."

He nodded again. "Let's get started." He offered a small smile at her, kind of as a truce.

One thing Ellie had never realized before was how cute Craig was when he smiled.

---x----

A/N: AHH I hate this chapter! But oh well, it's the best I got. Review please!


	4. No one

A/N: Ahh! Thankyou Thankyou THANKYOU to all my reviewers. You guys are the BEST! I really appreciate your time to review It makes me feel special :D And thankyou to my beta-er, Kaitlin. :D I couldn't ask for a beter beta-er. :-D

Disclaimer: I don't own Degrassi.

Marco eyed the mint chocolate chip ice cream in front of him nervously. He was afraid that if he ate any of it he would throw it back up, giving that his stomach was already shaking with nervous-ness. Dylan was sitting across from him, also with a bowl full of ice cream staring him in the face. Each would stare at each other for a few minutes, then brake it and start smiling, looking down at their ice cream. Then, seconds later, their gazes would meet again. It was like a game. Dylan finally broke the silence and said, "So..."

"So..." Marco repeated, laughing.

It was extremely awkward, the two of them together. Marco felt nervous half the time, embarassed the other half, while Dylan was close to the same. Each boy had feelings for the other, but neither of them would ever audibly admit it.

After a few more seconds of silence, Dylan said, "Marco?"

"Yeah?" He looked up into Dylan's blue eyes.

"I like you."

Marco's heart beat faster against his ribcage, his whole body pounding. He could almost feel the redness creeping up into his cheeks. _'Dylan likes me, Dylan likes me, Dylan likes me,' _Marco thought over and over again.

After staring, mouth wide open, at Dylan for a few seconds, Dylan laughed timidly and said, "Erm, well, now would be the time, to, uh, say something."

'_Dylan likes me, Dylan likes me.'_

"I mean, if you don't have feelings for me, I can understand and all... I just wanted to get everything out in the open... Are you okay?"

_'Dylan likes me, Dylan. Likes ME.'_

"I didn't mean to put you in an awkward position, Marco, really... I didn't. I understand if we're just friends."

_'Dylan. Likes. Me.'_

"Um, well?"

Marco's mouth moved, but no words came out. His face burst into a smile and Marco replied, a little too happy, "I like you too!"

Dylan was silent for about a second, but then burst out laughing, along with the Italian boy. After the fit had passed, Dylan said, "Wow... it's a relief to finally have all that said."

"Yeah..." Marco nervously laughed. "A relief."

He eyed the ice cream, or now, what used to be ice cream, bowl in front of him. It was now completely melted. "Oh.. I am so sorry- I'll pay you back, I really didn't mean to waste it like that, Ugh, what a mess..." Marco babbled on and on until Dylan interuppted.

"Whoa, whoa, Marco- it's okay. Don't worry about it." He offered a smile and then comforted, "Hey, mines melted too."

"Hehe..."

"Come on, we can go for a walk or something," Dylan offered, standing up. "Just forget about the ice cream."

The younger boy stood up and joined Dylan as they walked towards the exit. Just as they were walking out the door, Dylan put his arm around Marco's shoulders.

-x---

Emma eyed the lunchroom for Sean, trying to see him through the crowds. She spotted him by the vending machine, with Jay and his gang. Emma bravely manuevered through the crowd and marched right up to the group.

"Sean, can I talk to you?" She asked. Silence followed her words, as Sean made direct eye contact with her. She wanted to discuss the event that had happened outside yesterday afternoon. She had been a total jerk to him, and the least she could do was say she was sorry. Emma knew Sean meant what he had said, about caring for her, so she felt it was her duty to talk to him.

"Emma, look, not now, okay?" Sean said quietly, walking over to her.

"Aww, Sean got his old girlfriend back?" Jay cooed at them. A few of the people next to him laughed.

"Jay, shut up," Sean said.

"Aww," Jay continued to say in a baby voice, "Protecting your Save-the-Dolphins girlfriend?"

"Just because you're too ugly and rude to get a girlfriend doesn't mean you have to be mean to Sean about him having one, since you obviously will never be as good as him," Emma spat at Jay.

Silence fell on the entire cafeteria after Emma's words. Jay advanced on her, fists clenched. "You better watch what you say to me."

"Or else what? You'll steal my binder? Oh, that's right, you only steal things like LAPTOPS," Emma angrily threw back at him.

Before anyone saw what was happening, Jay's fist met Emma's eye dead on. She fell backwards onto the floor, holding her face in pain. Gasps were heard from all over the room as the cafeteria workers struggled to come over through the crowds forming and see what happened. Emma vaguely heard Mr. Simpson in the background, yelling, "What's going on here!?"

Sean turned to Jay and, with utter hate, threw himself on top of Jay, tackling him to the ground. "You don't mess with Emma!" Sean yelled, throwing punches at him. By now, they were rolling around on the floor, fists aimed anywhere they could find. Whispers made their way across the cafeteria. By now, no one was eating or even mildly paying attention to anything but the fight. Emma was being helped up by an elderly cafeteria helper.

"Break it up!" Jimmy yelled, trying to pull Sean off of Jay. It was no use, however, as Sean broke free and continued to kick, hit, and punch Jay. At that moment, Coach Armstrong and Mr. Simpson came into the scene, finally pulling the two boys apart. Sean continued to punch the air as he was pulled away from the older boy.

"You two boys! In my office! NOW!" Mr. Radditch's voice boomed through the crowd. Students parted to show a very flustered and angry looking principal near the cafeteria entrance. The two teachers led Sean and Jay out of the crowd.

Sean eyed Jay. He had blood streaming down his face from his nose, and a bruise was beginning to form under his eyelid, but Sean figured that was only the half of it. No one messed with Emma. No one.

--x---

A/N: I hated that chapter. Absolutely loathed it. . Oh well, I hope you enjoyed anyway through all its sucky-ness. Review please!


	5. Kiss Me

A/N: THANKYOU Reviewers! huggles you guys You people are the best wide grin R/R!

And Alex (divinething): I've never really thought of Marco/Dylan as slash, only because they show it on the show. What I usually consider slash is when they put two strange people together, like Craig and Spinner or something. I mean, obviously, Marco/Dylan IS slash, I've just never really thought of it that way after seeing the date eppy, which you never saw because you have no satellite in Cali shakes head sadly move back heeere! :D ANYWAY, just commenting on that and giving you a little message since I never seem to talk to you anymore Thankies for the long reviews :D You're my hero!

Disclaimer: I don't own Degrassi: The Next Generation.

"Thankyou," Emma smiled at the nurse and took the ice pack, holding it gingerly against her eye.

"Do you need to lay down here? Or do you just want to go back to class?"

"Oh, I'll be heading back now, thankyou for your help." Emma forced a smile again and pushed open the door of the clinic, walking out into the empty hall. She walked to her locker and set the ice-filled paper towel carefully on the floor.

"Oh, Emma..."

Emma turned and saw Sean coming down the hall. He had just noticed her bruise and stopped dead in his tracks.

She looked away from him, back at her locker, turning the combination. "Don't worry about it."

He walked over to her, now only a few inches away from the nasty black and blue bruise that covered her left eye. "I am so, so, sorry," Sean said, gently running his finger over the bruise. Emma flinched as she pulled her English book out.

She eyed him. His face wasn't much better. He had a cut across his bottom lip, his nose had been bleeding, and he too had a black eye.

"Don't worry about it," She repeated, closing her locker and grabbing her books. "What did you get from Radditch?"

"Well, since Jay really did more damage than me I'm just suspended for the rest of the day. Jay's got a week. I barely bruised him up." Sean then added as an afterthought, "Unfortunately."

Emma looked down at the floor and said, "I'm gonna go ahead to class. I'll see you later."

"Emma wait... please come with me," Sean offered, extending a hand.

"Where?"

"Out... out to the ravine. Somewhere. I don't care... I just want to talk."

Emma looked behind her. The halls remained silent and still. Class had 20 minutes left. "Alright, I guess."

She hurriedly got her bookbag out of her locker and followed him out of the building. Part of her told her not to follow Sean out those doors, but the other half of her wouldn't let Emma do anything but that. Emma didn't know why she suddenly was so attached to Sean... perhaps it was the fact that over all the awful things they had gone through, her feelings for him were still existent. Emma would never be able to forget the cute way Sean smiled, or the sweet taste of his lips. He was like a part of her... without Sean, Emma wouldn't be the same.

The two entered the ravine, walking among the trees. After a few minutes of silence, they had arrived at the spot they had been kissing just a few weeks before. It was strange, Emma thought, being there with him again, because their past time in the small space lingered over them. Sean sat down and Emma plopped down next to him, dropping her back next to her.

"How are you and Ellie?" The words escaped Emma. She was extremely curious.

Sean looked over at her, studying the features of her face. '_She's so beautiful,'_ Sean couldn't help but think.

"We're... alright, I guess. I just don't really feel... a connection when I'm around her."

"Oh."

For the first time in the ravine, they made direct eye contact with each other. Emma was now so close to Sean she could feel his breath on her neck. He looked into her eyes, gently tucking a loose strand of hair behind her ear.

"Has anyone ever told you," Sean asked, his voice barely above a whisper, "That you're beautiful?"

No words in the world, no description of emotions, could describe what Emma felt right then as Sean's lips met hers.

-x-

Marco felt extremely self concious as he and Dylan strolled along the path in the park. Dylan had removed his arm from Marco's shoulders, but had then linked hands with him. They stopped in a secluded area in the park, Dylan turning to Marco.

"Hey... do you wanna go out again sometime?" He asked the shorter Italian boy.

Marco nodded enthusiastically and smiled. "Of course."

"Good.. I would like that." Dylan offered another smile to Marco, who gladly matched his expression. Marco stared up into the blonde boy's eyes and his heart thudded even faster as Dylan's lips moved towards him.

_'This is it,' _Marco thought, _'He's gonna kiss me.'_

And, as usual, Marco was right. Dylan's lips met Marco's for a second or two, then pulled away shyly. "Hehe..." Marco said nervously, almost positive his cheeks were bright red.

Dylan laughed also, and grinned widely.

"Don't be nervous, Marco. You're a great kisser."

-x-

Ellie cursed as one of the strings on her guitar broke off. "Damn it," she said, fumbling around her desk drawer for a new string. "E...G...B...A..." Ellie pulled out her extra strings. "But no D. Great, just what I need."

She sighed. She was almost done with this song! Couldn't it have broken just a few minutes later? Ellie cursed again. What was she supposed to do now? Her mom was too drunk to drive her anywhere, and the guitar place was too far away to walk. She sighed. The song would have to wait. Then Ellie thought of something.

"Craig," she said, smiling. Craig would have an extra string, wouldn't he? He did play guitar... It was worth it, Ellie decided, she would walk the few minutes to Craig's and see if he had any.

After putting her jacket and shoes on, Ellie made her way to the Jeremiah household. When she got there, she rang the doorbell. It was Craig who answered.

"Ellie?"

"That would be me," She said, bored. "Yeah, so anyway, do you have any extra D strings?"

"For the guitar?"

"No, stupid, for the piano," Ellie said sarcastically.

"But... piano's dont have any strings?" Craig replied, confused.

"I was being sarcastic," Ellie laughed, "You're a little slow aren't you?"

Craig grinned. "Sorry... and yeah, I do, come in."

Ellie stepped into Craig's house. It was quiet, and it didn't appear Joey or Angie were home. Ellie looked around. His house was a lot better than hers at home, but maybe that was just because his living room wasn't scattered with empty vodka bottles.

"Nice place," Ellie commented, following Craig to the garage.

"Thanks," Craig smiled back at her. "We're gonna remodel sometime soon, if Joey ever gets around to it."  
  
"Cool." Ellie returned the grin.

They walked through a door and into the garage. Craig flipped the lights on and walked over to his guitar case.

"Whoa," Ellie said, looking around. She had never been in his garage before and seen all the equipment. "This is awesome."

"Haha, thanks."  
  
He rummaged around in his case for a few minutes. "What string did you say you needed?"

"D."

"Here we go." He pulled out the correct string and handed it to her.

"Thank you," Ellie smiled. Compared to Ashley's stories and Craig's school reputation, he wasn't really that bad of a person at all. He was actually really sweet and friendly. Ellie couldn't help but stare into his brown eyes.

"What? Is there something on my face?" Craig asked, noticing her gaze. He smiled again.

_'God,'_ Ellie thought, _'I LOVE that smile.'_

"No, there's nothing... you're just... cute. Really cute."

Ellie smiled and was almost sure redness was creeping into her cheeks.

"Same goes for you," Craig replied, the smile not fading from his lips.

Before even thinking of Sean or the circumstance she was in, with her best friend's ex boyfriend, Ellie leaned in and shyly kissed Craig on the mouth. It didn't last long, two seconds at a minimum, but all the same Ellie couldn't have enjoyed it more.

They pulled apart and silence lingered over the garage.

"Well... I'm gonna go now... thanks again for the string," Ellie said, clearing her throat. "See you... um... at school tomorrow."

"Oh, okay, um, bye," Craig said. Was what had just happened real? He watched Ellie walk out the door and down the driveway, all the way thinking, '_I just kissed Ellie Nash... and I really enjoyed it.'_

-x-

AHH I hated this chapter too. Oh well, R/R please! And sorry for any errors, I didn't get around to fixing it. Sorry it was short too!


	6. AUTHORS NOTE: PLEASE READ

**A/N: Hey guys! Okay, no one is probably wondering where i went, but just to clear this up... I really haven't been anywhere. I've had wordpad, I've had my computer, I've had time, and I've had internet. Why I stopped my stories? 1- Lack of inspiration and 2- Lack of energy. yeah. I'm really sorry! I PROMISE I will keep writing. It might not nessicarily be another chapter for this story, since I totally forgot my plot. Also, Degrassi has changed a lot. I probably will finish "Silence in the Night", though, because it was just kind of fun to write. I will start a new Degrassi story within the next few weeks or so- I promise. I just need some ideas. So if you guys really want me to finish this story, please review with ideas, because let me tell you- I have NONE. If I get an idea that would work, I'll finish up this story so I can feel accomplished. So please review with responses, and look for a new story out from me soon!  
Again, I'm sorry, and my reviewers are the best!**

**-Christina**


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